Selecting an MLS Head Coach

When it comes to looking at the process of hiring an MLS Head Coach, who would know better than Peter Wilt, who hired first Bob Bradley and then Dave Sarachan with the Chicago Fire.

I’ve only selected two more Major League Soccer head coaches in my life than most of this column’s readers have, so please take this coach hiring how-to column with a shaker full of sodium chloride. I generally believe that coaches should be given the benefit of time as stability is a huge benefit to a team and change in leadership usually creates instability for a period of time and that’s part of the reason the Fire only had two head coaches in my eight years. The Fire are now on the verge of naming their third new head coach in the past three years.

Both of my choices had considerable success, especially in their first seasons. Bob Bradley made the playoffs and won both MLS Cup and the US Open Cup for the expansion Chicago Fire in 1998. His successor, Dave Sarachan, was arguably even more successful by capturing the Fire’s only Supporters Shield as well as the US Open Cup and Eastern Conference regular season and playoff championship.

http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/12/16/selecting-an-mls-head-coach-an-insiders-view/